Anzac Centenary Heath Street Walk
To mark the centenary of the First World War landings at Gallipoli, Barb Mullen and Christine Griffiths, residents of Heath Street, Port Melbourne, researched and organised a walk to remember the men who had enlisted for WWI from their street.
The project started with a shortlist of nine names gathered from the AIF Project website created by the University of NSW in Canberra but quickly grew to 14 names and finally, with the help of the Port Melbourne Historical and Preservation Society, to 35 men from a street of less than 90 homes.
On 19 April 2015, a somewhat wet and cold Sunday, about 40 people joined Barb and Chris on a commemorative walk along Heath Street stopping at each of the men’s former addresses to hear their stories and leave a hand-made poppy to remember them by. It is sobering to note that of those 35 Heath Street men, 3 did not return, 3 had serious mental health problems, 1 was an amputee, 27 others were discharged as medically unfit for any service and 1 escaped physically unscathed.
Barb & Chris produced a 58 page booklet for the walk which can be downloaded via the link at the bottom of this article.
The Men of Heath Street
11 Heath St: Samuel Gard Howard
15 Heath St: Peter Augustus Vorherr
15 Heath St: Herbert Walter Hickey (William Vorherr)
17 Heath St: Cleveland Prew
19 Heath St: Howard Wentworth Lewis
23 Heath St: Montgomery Prew
25 Heath St: George Roy Merison
29 Heath St: Charles William McCarthy (Charles Wilson)
43 Heath St: Peter Henry Freyer
47 Heath St: Duncan McPherson
65 Heath St: Archibald John McCulloch
69 Heath St: William Joseph Adams
71 Heath St: John Henry Rickards
73 Heath St: Samuel Symons
75 Heath St: John Joseph McLean
76 Heath St: George Henry Hastings
95 Heath St: Henry Thomas Newson
99 Heath St: David Souter Forbes
99 Heath St: William George Purnell
129 Heath St: Albert Victor Jennings
132 Heath St: Walter Sheridan
132 Heath St: John Sheridan
134 Heath St: Percy James Garbutt
136 Heath St: Daniel Clarke
144 Heath St: Josiah Walton
151 Heath St: Robert Avenel Bennet
162 Heath St: Alfred Alexander Moon
183 Heath St: Charles Ernest Hildebrand
193 Heath St: Luke Sykes
193 Heath St: William George Critch
200 Heath St: John William Conway
200 Heath St: Harry Conway
202 Heath St: Martin Robison
206 Heath St: Joseph Koppin
211 Heath St: John Mackie
2 Comments
Kate
Hi, it was very interesting to find this page. Well done for honouring these men, no doubt lots of time and research. My great grandfather is Henry Thomas Newson, he lived at number 95 heath St. Henry’s son is My Granfather George Edward Newson. Unfortunately our grandfather George was a POW in WW2 on Burma Railway luckily he made it home tho.
David Thompson
Hi Kate,
Thanks for adding some family details to our story. Amazing to think that so many people from a relatively small inner suburban street enlisted for WWI and two generations of your family were affected by the two global conflicts during the 20th century.